Spring Creek rallies past ND

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek's version of small-ball worked to perfection as the Gators delivered a 4-3 win over Carolina 1-A Conference rival North Duplin on Tuesday night.

The Gators manufactured runs in each of their final three at-bats to secure the victory.

"That's how we have to play the game," Spring Creek head coach Heath Whitfield said. "We don't have a bunch of guys that can come up and hit the ball over the fence, so we have to be smart and take an extra base when we can."

Spring Creek grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first when Luke Miller reached on an error, advanced to second on a Zack Harrell walk and stole third. Miller scored on Duane Gurganus' groundout to shortstop.

North Duplin (11-3 overall, 3-1 CC) battled back in the top of the fourth with a pair of runs. Breyon Johnson doubled and Ced Kornegay followed with a walk. James Kornegay plated both runners with a double and gave the Rebels a 2-1 lead.

Spring Creek tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Chris Nichols doubled and scored on Alan Coor's single which was mishandled in the outfield.

"I've told my guys before that the only team who has beaten us this season is ourselves," North Duplin head coach James Hobbs said. "We made a couple of errors and it cost us two runs."

Each team added a run in the fifth inning to keep the score tied at 3-3.

Spring Creek (11-6, 4-1) jumped on top for good in the sixth. Chad Spurgeon drew a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice by Coor. Logan Miller hit a bloop single behind third base and Spurgeon raced home with the winning run.

Miller pitched three strong innings of relief to earn the win on the pitcher's mound. The left-hander did not allow a hit and struck out three batters.

"I can't say enough about the job both Logan and Luke Miller did tonight," Whitfield said. "Logan pitched a nice game for us and had the winning hit. Luke made an excellent defensive play in the outfield and got on base three times."

Mitchell Thigpen suffered the loss in relief for the Rebels.

North Duplin travels to Ayden-Grifton today, while Spring Creek plays host to Princeton on Thursday.